Egbert lundell



- (No Model.) r

R. LUNDBLL. ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

Np. 594,702. PatentedNov. 30,1897.

- WITNESSES: INV ENTOR:

m: Noam: Pnzn: coy. momuma. WASHINGTON. n. c.

'25 trated in the accompanying drawings and are located two pairs of switching-contacts,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

ROBERT LUNDELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE J OHNSON- LUNDELL ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,702, dated November 30, 1897. Application filed August 24,1896. Serial No. 603,723. (No model.) Patented in England September 17,1896,N0.20,7l6.

To a, whom it may concern: between them and the rails R R, their sur- Be it known that I, ROBERT LUNDELL, a face width and strength being such as to ofcitizen of the United States, residing at Brookfer to wagon-wheels sufficient resistance to lyn, in the county of Kings and State of New prevent the forming of gutters near the tram- 5 York, have made a new and useful Invention rails, as is now the case in existing lines of in Electric Railways, of which the following street-railways. is a specification, said invention having been T T and Tr Tr are trolley-Wheels, preferpatented in Great Britain, with my knowlably of steel and of V shape,so that they will edge and consent, on the 17th day of Septemreadily cut through ice or mud and remain IO ber, 1896, and numbered 20,796. always in electrical contact with the sectional My invention is directed especially to that trolleyconductors as they pass thereover. type of electric railways known in the art as These trolley wheels are electrically consurface trolleys,in which the electrical curnected together and to the battery B by conrent is conveyed to the propelling-motor by ductors, as shown. r 5 sectional conductors or contacts made tempo S is a conducting trolley-shoe of well-known rarily alive beneath a car only while it travform, carried by the car and electrically conels over them; and its object is to make sure nected to the motor M and adapted to bridge of such temporary connections between the and bear successively upon conducting consectional conductors and the current feeder tact-buttons B B B 850., located, prefer- 7o 20 or main and of their disconnectiontherefrom ably, at thev middle of the road-bed, one beas the propelled car passes on over the route, tween each pair of sectional trolley-conducso as to thereby insure certainty of action and tors Sc S0 850. Each of these contact-butalso safety to persons and animals. This obtons is connected to a branch feeder extendject is fully accomplished by the means illusing into a switch-box, (not shown,) wherein hereinafter described, the especial features of one pair of said contacts being adapted to connovelty of my invention being particularly nect the normally open branch feeder to the pointed out in the claims at the end of this positive or plus main feeder, and the other specification. pair to in like manner connect one line of the 30 Figure 1 of the drawings illustrates, diasectional trolley-conductors S0 S0 or S0 to grammatically,an electric railway embodying the negative feeder or main, M, M, and M my invention; and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional being switching-magnets the cores or armaview of the road-bed, tram-rails, and sectional tures of which carry movable switching-controlley-conductors, illustrating also one of the tacts, as shown. The other sectional trolley- 35 contact-buttons fixed in the road-bed. conductors So So S0 &c., it will be noted,

Referring now to the drawings in detail, W are permanently connected to the tram-rails WV represent the Wheels of a car carrying a R R through the switch-magnets M M M propellingelectricmotorMofanywell-known &c., the circuit connections between these type and the usual operating or controlling sectional trolley-conductors, the trolley- 9 4o switch Sw, operatively connected to a rheowheels Tr Tr, and system of conductors on stat, and a small storage battery B, preferthe car being such that the battery B, when ably of low voltage. connected in circuit, will energize the switch- R and R represent the track or tram rails, magnet in sequence as the car advances.

and So S0 Sc S0 S0 Sc pairs of sectional The operation is as follows: Suppose the 45 trolley conductors or rails embedded in the Voltage on the main feeders to be five hunsurface of the road-bed parallel with the rails dred and that of the battery B to be ten, and

R R, as clearly shown. These sectional trolthat the windin g and resistance of the switchley-conductors are preferably of T-rail form, magnets is such that they will operate for,

as shown, and are firmly secured to the crosssay, fifteen amperes of current. On closing I00 50 ties in such manner as to leave spaces of only the switch Sw current flows from the plus pole about one or one andone-halfinchesin breadth of the battery B in a direction reverse to the arrow to the switch and to car-wheel W to ground or tram rails R R, which are bonded together, thence through the core of magnet M to sectional trolley-conductor S0 trolleywheels Tr Togback to the minus pole or battery 13. This energizes the magnet M and causes its core or armature to actuate the movable switching-contacts, so as to close the circuit from the power-house generator through the motor and battery on board the car by way of the positive and negative mains or feeders, as follows: by way of the plus or positive main in the direction of arrow to the switchcontacts to branch feeder, thence to contactbutton 13 trolley-shoe S to motor M and switch Sw, where the current divides, one part flowing through the magnet-coil M as before, to the minus feeder or main and the other part charging the battery B and passing thence to trolley-wheels T T, sectional rail S0 and switch-contacts on the right to the minus feeder also. The instant that the trolleywheel Tr comes into contact with the next sectional trolley-rail S0 in advance less charging-current will flow through the battery inasmuch as there are now two switch-magnets M and M in parallel circuit, the resistance of the magnet-circuit being only one-half as muchras before.

It will be apparent upon examination of the circuit operating the switching-magnets that no leakage-currents can hold the magnets closed after a car has passed. If there is any surface leakage at all, this will take place between one of the buttons and the sectional rails. Leakagecurrent from' the buttons to sectional rails S0 S0 Sc will go directly through the switching-contacts to the minus main without affecting the magnetcoils, and the leakage-current from buttons to the other sectional rails S0 S0 S0 will pass through the magnet-coils in the wrong direction (reverse to arrows) before it can find its way to the minus main. This leakage will cause the magnets to open quickly.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. An electric-railway system provided with a current feeder or main, normally open branch feeders, conducting contact-buttons, and sectional trolley rails or conductors, in combination with electromagnetic switching devices provided with pairs of switching-contacts and circuit-conductors whereby any surface leaking current to the switching-magnets from the current feeder or main aftera car has passed a given switching-magnet will always be conveyed therethrough in a direction the reverse of that taken by the working current while the car or vehicle is being propelled over the route, substantially as described.

2. In an electric-railway system a current feeder or main, a series of branch feeders running from said current feeder ormain to a series of conducting-contacts but normally open at points between said contacts and the current feeder or main, in combination with two sets or lines of sectional trolley-conductors, one of which sets is operatively connected with normally open branch feeders running to a negative main or return circuit, the other set being connected to the coils of switching-electromagnets, the cores or armatures of which are provided with circuit-closing contacts for closing both sets of branch feeders and circuit connections between said contacts and the switching-electromagnets whereby the working current from the current feeder or main flows directly to the conducting trolley-shoe carried by a car and any leaking current from the current feeder or main to the switching-magnet after the car or vehicle has passed a given section will always enter the coils of such switching-magnet in a direction the reverse to that taken by the energizing or operating current, sub stantially as described.

3. In an electric-railway system positive and negative current feeders or mains, sets of normally open branch feeders running respectively to conducting contact-buttons and one set of sectional trolley-conductors, a second set of sectional trolley-conductors connected to switching-eleotromagnets, in combination with a conducting trolley-shoe operatively connected with a motor on board of a car or vehicle and two sets of trolley-wheels adapted to contact with the sectional trolleyconductors and circuit connections between said contacts and the switching-electromagnets whereby the working current passes directly from the positive-current main through a branch feeder to the motor on board of the car, and any surface leakage occurring after the passage of the car will always flow through the switching-magnets in a reverse direction to that taken by the operating-current, substantially as described.

4. In an electric-railway system, three sets of surface contacts, one set being connected to the positive or plus current main, the second to the negative or minus main or return and the third set connected to the track-rails through switching-electromagnets, substantially as described. a

5. In an electric-railway system, two cur rent feeders or mains, two lines or sets of sectional trolley-conductors arranged in pairs,

in combination with a third line of contacts located between said lines, and circuit connections with switching -electromagnets for connecting the third line of contacts with the plus or positive current main and the two lines or sets of sectional conductors respectively with the negative feeder and the switching-electromagnets, said parts being so located with relation to each other that any surface leaking current to the switching-electromagnets from the current feeder or main after a car has passed a given magnet will always be conveyed therethrough in a direction the reverse of that taken by the working current while a car or vehicle is being propelled over the route, substantially as described.

6. An electric-railway system having a positive and a negative current feeder or main,

two sets of normally open branch feeders, one for each current feeder or main, two sets of sectional trolley conductors arranged in pairs, contact buttons or plates one between each pair of sectional trolley-conductors, in combination with an electromagnetic switching device provided With pairs of switchingcontacts and circuit-conductors for each button and pair of sectional trolley-conductors, and a trolley-shoe carried by a car or vehicle and adapted to span the distance between successive pairs of contact buttons or plates, together with a switch-operatin g battery and a propelling-motor carried by a car, said parts being so located with relation to each other that the operating-current passes directly from the positive-current feeder or main to and through the trolley-shoe and the motor on board of the car without affecting any switch-controlling magnets and also that any surface leakage which enters a switchingmagnet after a car or vehicle has passed such magnet will always flow through the coils 7. In an electric-railway system, a line of track-rails; positive and negative current feeders or mains; three sets of sectional contacts or conductors located between the trackrails, one set being electrically connected to normally open branch feeders running to the positive-current feeder or main, the second set connected to normally open branch feeders running to the negative feeder or main, and the third set connected through the electromagnets of the switching devices. with the track-rails, in combination with a trolleyshoe carried by a car and adapted to bridge adjacent pairs of contacts of one set and having electrical connection with a switch-operating battery and a propelling-motor carried also on'th'e car, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 22d day of August, 1896.

ROBERT LUNDELL.

YVitnesses:

G. J. KINTNER, WM. A. OORROY. 

